


show & tell

by riveatstoes



Category: Homestuck
Genre: 2 am issues, F/F, Faux couples therapy, Humanstuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:28:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28186161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riveatstoes/pseuds/riveatstoes
Summary: vriska and terezi are having...issues. aradia tries to help, but when she fails, she enlists the assistance of rose.
Relationships: Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam, Terezi Pyrope/Vriska Serket
Kudos: 5





	show & tell

**Author's Note:**

> CW for: prescription drug use (vague), arguing, (faux) couples therapy, and lots of swearing

“There’s some weird energy here, and I really don’t like it,” Aradia said after they’d sat down, “So you two can either admit that there’s something going on, or I can make you.”

Vriska groaned, “Is this the only reason you asked us to meet you? To debunk some unrealistic hunch you have?”

“It wasn’t a problem until it effected everyone else. You can’t just ignore that you blew up at Nepeta yesterday.”

Terezi just sat there silently, picking at her fingernails.

“It’s not my job to make sure Leijon’s comfortable!” Vriska snapped, “And quite frankly, it was good to see her finally in line.”

Aradia ran her fingers through her hair, “Look - the point is that this entire week, you two’ve been more insufferable than usual. Before last weekend you were fine, and I just want to know what happened.”

“I ain’t telling you shit, Megido.”

“You’re so fucking stubborn,” Terezi mumbled, still not making eye contact with either of them, “That’s the problem. She’s trying to help us, and you’re pushing her away.”

Vriska scoffed, “As if you’re any better! I am not stubborn, I just didn’t want you in my business, and I don’t want her all up in it now either.”

“When you’re coming into my house at two in the morning and crashing on my couch constantly, it becomes my business, Vriska!” She shouted, “I’m worried about you.”

Aradia smiled to herself the tiniest bit. Now they were getting somewhere.

“Don’t be! I don’t want you to!”

“Oh, as if that’s helping at all!”

Terezi crossed her arms and looked away from her girlfriend, which caused Vriska to do the same. The two of them seemed adamant once again on not saying anything, which set them back at least ten steps.

“I think...I think we need more of a professional on this,” Aradia admitted. She was only seventeen - all of them were, so how much could she really know?

That professional turned out to just be Rose, their friend Kanaya’s girlfriend. She was also seventeen, but she at least had an interest in becoming a therapist of some sort, so this was more up her alley.

“Okay, so what’s going on?” Rose asked, completely and utterly confused, after they’d sat down in chairs across from her living room couch.

“I’m not saying anything first.”

Terezi facepalmed, “This is what I’m talking about! You’re such a stubborn bitch that you can’t internalize the fact that people are trying to help us!”

“Okay...well, fuck you too, _honey_.”

“Right back at you, _babe_.”

Rose feigned a smile, “Okay! There is a lot to unpack here! So, would either of you like to explain the situation in full?”

“Of course!” Terezi offered, “‘Cause you know, I’m willing to admit to someone else that there’s a problem, Vriska.”

Vriska just repeated what she said under her breath mockingly.

Terezi sneered at her, before turning back to their faux-therapist, “Anyways, it was two in the morning on Saturday. Vriska had just burst into my home...”

-

Vriska threw the front door open and yanked her set of keys from the slot, swearing to herself as she stumbled up the entryway stairs and across the living room.

She was tired, to say the least; she was up at six in the morning for school, and then the second they got out at four, she was off to her job at the “local” bowling alley - it was two hours away.

She’d seen the ad a month before and applied, and got the job even though she was so far from the building, only because she was the only one to apply. It was a twenty-four hour joint, and she worked from six-thirty to midnight.

“Fuck!” She whisper-shouted after she’d stubbed her toe on an annoying side table that was, for whatever reason, in the middle of the floor.

Nevertheless, Vriska continued her expedition through her girlfriend’s home. She knew the layout just about as well as she knew her own, which came in handy especially since she wasn’t on great terms with her mother at the moment.

Speaking of which, she just then remembered that she’d gotten a text from her mother a few hours before and hadn’t checked it since she was still on the clock at the time.

As she flicked on the bathroom light and shut the door, she turned on her phone and opened the messages app.

_Aranea: I know we are not on speaking terms currently, and that you’re most likely going to simply ignore this, 8ut I just wanted to give you a reminder to take your meds. You know how harmful they can 8e if you skip a day. Love you._

_What bullshit_ , Vriska thought as she shut off her phone and dug in her bag for the bottle of pills and her leftover soda she bought at work, _She knows I’m more than capable of taking stupid pills! She’s just looking for a reason to butt back into my life..._

She downed the pill along with her soda and shoved both of them back into her bag, leaving the bathroom after.

After she was back in the living room, she threw down her bag and jacket, and kicked off her shoes, all three items slamming against the wall. She grabbed her blanket that was waiting for her on the top of the couch and laid down.

The main thing running through Vriska’s mind wasn’t anything to do with her mother, or even Terezi, but instead to do with the television, and if turning it on would be too much of a risk.

She didn’t want to wake up Terezi or Latula, but at the same time, she’d been gone for nearly twenty-four hours, and she deserved something, right? A little Boy Meets World never hurt anybody.

Well apparently it did, actually, because a few seconds after she’d turned it on, Terezi was at the bottom of the stairs (completely different from those mentioned earlier), rubbing her eyes.

“Did you just get back?” She asked tiredly, quite ungracefully plopping onto the couch next to her.

“Yeah, about ten minutes ago.”

“They really shouldn’t be having you work until midnight, you know. You’re still in high school, Vris.”

“Whatever.”

Terezi scoffed, “They shouldn’t! It’s not fair to you!”

_What is she trying to suggest? I’m perfectly fine! It’s not even six hours. Clearly she’s just trying to have more control of my life. Fuck this!_

“I chose to work these hours. I knew what I was getting into, and it’s going great.”

“For you, maybe,” she huffed, “But I only get to see you on the weekends, barely!”

“Well I don’t work again until Monday, so why don’t you just get over it and enjoy the time we do have?”

Terezi shuffled so that she was sitting cross-legged on the couch, “It’s not enough. That’s why. Ever since this trimester started, we haven’t had any classes together, and then you got this job, and...”

Vriska tried to process this, but it didn’t work out too well. Instead of trying to sympathize, she just stood up and walked to the kitchen.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m getting a snack! Jeez, am I not allowed to keep anything to myself?”

“Woah, what’s that supposed to mean?” Terezi demanded, following her.

Vriska felt as if there was acid in the back of her throat, and although she tried to ignore it and just focus on the box of cheerios in the cabinet, it didn’t work, and she spun around to face her girlfriend.

“Nothing. Not everything I say has some hidden-fucking-meaning. I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t insert yourself into every aspect of my life.”

Terezi took a step back, and then looked at her feet. Vriska had an odd feeling that she had gone a bit far, but then she took a good look at her. Terezi was in pajamas; a nice baggy shirt, sweatpants, the whole nine yards. Meanwhile she was still in the jeans and ugly tee shirt she’d put on the day before. Their situations were not comparable.

“Fuck, Vris,” she mumbled, “I didn’t realize that’s how you felt. I didn’t mean to annoy you with my love.”

She doubled down, “Well, guess what? You did. You’re actually so annoying that you’re making me resent you. How does it feel?”

Terezi was left speechless. Vriska slammed the cheerios so hard on the counter that as she walked away, they tipped over and spilt all over the floor. She headed to the living room and began to collect her things.

“Where are you going?” Terezi asked, in a slight panic, much different than her tone just a few moments before.

“I’m going to Tavros’s house. Even if he doesn’t like me, he at least has the sense to leave me alone.”

There was an immediate switch in Terezi’s demeanor, “You fucking bitch!” She shouted, not even caring that it may wake Latula up.

Vriska finished gathering her belongings and headed to the door. She opened it, yelled back, “Obnoxious whore!” and then slammed it shut.

About five minutes after that, Latula stumbled down the stairs, only to find Terezi sitting on the kitchen floor, cleaning up the cheerios, choking over the sob in the back of her throat.

-

Rose was left wide-eyed, clearly trying to process what she’d just been told. She didn’t know who had acted worse in that situation, and didn’t want to entirely base Vriska’s actions on nothing. Wow, her first “gig” as a therapist and she’s left playing catch-up.

She looked at them, to see what they were feeling about the recounting of their story. Terezi was biting her thumb, clearly holding something back, and Vriska was just looking off into the distance.

“Okay! Let’s just start from the beginning!” Rose suggested, “Now, Vriska: why were you so insistent on working until midnight?”

She shrugged, “More hours meant more money. That’s the only reason I got the job, I guess.”

“What do you need money for?”

“My meds,” she answered blatantly, “It used to be that Aran- er, Mom would pay for them, but ever since we went partially no-contact, I didn’t want to leech onto her for it. So I got a job to be able to pay for them.”

Terezi perked up, “Why didn’t you tell me? You know Latula would’ve been more than happy to help you out.”

“I think I just didn’t want to rely on anyone for them. They control my mood swings, so they were my responsibility.”

“Your mood swings aren’t your fault.”

Rose nodded. They were finally getting somewhere! Yes! She cleared her throat, “Do you think your mood swings are why you switched so quickly on Terezi?”

“Yeah, I do. I forgot to take the pill the night before because I was so tired. That can probably account for why I was acting so out-of-wack.”

“Why were you working so far away?”

“There wasn’t a decent job that was any closer. The closest one was for a gas station, but the hours didn’t line up.”

“Oh.”

Rose then turned to Terezi, “Why did you switch up on Vriska?”

She laughed nervously, “Uhm...it was just because I knew she wasn’t gonna open up, and I thought acting the same way as her would get a reaction out of her.”

“And did you get the reaction you wanted?”

“Not at all...” she began rubbing at her palm, digging into it with her thumb, “She just doubled down on me more than anything, and it made it worse. I really didn’t want this to happen, but neither of us wanted to give up first.”

Vriska grabbed her wrist to make her stop, as it was clear the rubbing was starting to hurt. She looked Terezi in the eyes, gulped, and muttered, “I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, okay? The way I acted was wrong. It wasn’t okay at all. You don’t deserve to be treated the way I treated you, and I suppose neither does Leijon. I was just...”

Rose filled it in for her, “Stressed?”

“Yeah. That.”

Terezi bit her tongue, and then sighed, “What you said really hurt. I was just trying to care for you, and you pushing me away the way you did sucked. It fucking sucked.”

“I understand, and I understand if you wanna take a break. But this whole thing, especially retelling everything, had really made me realize that I don’t want to be mad at you anymore.”

Terezi put her palm against Vriska’s cheek and she leaned into it. The warmth of her face was a good contrast to the uncomfortableness of her thumb rubbing against it.

“I really don’t want to take a break, Vriska. I love you, and I want what’s best for you. For starters, I want you to try to find a better job.”

“Yeah...I can do that.”

“Latula and I will help to contribute to your meds, and you can stay with us for as long as you need. Right now I just want you to focus on graduating, okay?”

“Okay.”

“One more thing - I really want you to apologize to Nepeta. I know I can’t make you do anything, but—”

“No, no. I’ll do it.”

“Really?”

“Yep. I’ll do it.”

As the two stepped out of Rose’s home, Rose smiled to herself, “Kanaya, honey, I did it!”

“Proud of you!” Kanaya shouted from the other room. Her first therapy session, and it went exactly as it should’ve.


End file.
